City Hall should be open to all, equally; Are we close to rationed health care?

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

City Hall should be open to all, equally

It’s ironic that Warren Mayor James Fouts compared the Freedom From Religion Foundation to the American Nazis and KKK while putting his own bitter prejudice against atheists on open display. Installing a “reason station” alongside the existing “prayer station” inside City Hall would not “deprive all organized religions of their constitutional freedoms or... discourage the practice of religion.” It would just give the secular viewpoint equal visibility.

His assertion that “no organization has the right to disparage the beliefs of many Warren and U.S. citizens” and that “(t)he City of Warren cannot allow this” shows utter ignorance of the First Amendment. That is exactly what the freedom of speech is about -- freedom to express ideas that government officials dislike.

“Defender of the faith” hasn’t been part of any government official’s job description since we threw off the British monarchy in 1776. Neither is it Fouts’ job to censor ideas or decide for citizens which life-philosophies are acceptable.

His offer that the City Hall atrium “is available to any religion” shows an unconstitutional bias in favor of religious citizens and speech, and against secular citizens and speech. City Hall must be open to all citizens and speech, on an equal basis.

Lee Helms,

Communications Director

Michigan Atheists

Are we close to rationed health care?

Another study saying mammograms aren’t necessary for most women... This goes with PSA tests not being reliable. Tests for this, tests for that, don’t need them. Blah, blah, blah. Too many false positives and unnecessary surgeries.

We’re told that the statistics just don’t support all these tests and you don’t really need them unless you have a family history. If not for ests and scans, I probably wouldn’t be here to write this letter. I’d much rather have a false positive and a retest than no test at all!

I don’t consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but I think we’re on a very slippery slope toward rationed universal health care. Someone other then your doctor will decide whether certain tests are needed. Denial of tests will come because the “numbers” don’t support them.